Arsenal’s Away-Day Issues and Mohamed Salah’s Latest Landmark

Stat, Viz, Quiz is the Opta Analyst football newsletter. This week’s edition looks at Arsenal’s away form, Mohamed Salah’s 164th Premier League goal, and Rúben Amorim’s attacking potency.

It’s too early to say whether Matchday 10 was pivotal in the Premier League title race, but it was certainly one to raise an eyebrow in an inquisitive manner, like Carlo Ancelotti or Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson perhaps did once they checked the scores on our fixtures hub.

Arsenal lost at Newcastle United, Manchester City lost at Bournemouth, and Liverpool won despite trailing at half-time at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.

You can find out the latest Opta supercomputer predictions for the title race elsewhere on Opta Analyst, but before you do, let’s enjoy another edition of Stat, Viz Quiz, including Arsenal’s away-day struggles, Mohamed Salah’s goalscoring exploits, and we’ll be answering a question on Manchester United’s new head coach, Rúben Amorim, with this week’s Ask Opta query.

So, pour a drink, turn off your phone (unless you’re reading this on your phone, in which case definitely don’t turn it off) and get stuck into some of the finest football data you ever did see.

If you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe below for free to receive SVQ every Tuesday.

STAT – Arsenal’s Struggle to Fire Away

Given their excellent form in the last couple of years, it feels strange to be writing about a negative Arsenal trend.

Yet, after their 1-0 loss at Newcastle at the weekend, the Gunners have suffered back-to-back away defeats in the Premier League. Alexander Isak headed in Anthony Gordon’s pinpoint cross to win it for the hosts, with Arsenal having also been beaten 2-0 at Bournemouth in their previous away game.

In fairness, it is the first time since May 2022 that they have lost consecutive league games, but it will be a concern for Mikel Arteta.

They’re also giving themselves rather too much to do. Arsenal have fallen 1-0 behind in four of their last six Premier League games, as many as their previous 31 games prior to that. They have now conceded the opening goal in three successive away matches in the competition for the first time since December 2019 (five in a row), prior to Arteta’s arrival as manager.

One of the more interesting stats, though, is their apparent lack of threat in away games.

The only team in the Premier League to have attempted fewer shots at goal in away games this season is Brentford (35). Arsenal have only managed to record 37 shots in their five away games. In fact, five teams have attempted at least twice as many shots on the road (Man City – 90; Tottenham – 83; Crystal Palace – 79; Bournemouth – 78; Man Utd – 74).

That’s not to say that taking lots of shots equals impressive play and success, though. Arsenal have still won two of their five away games (D1 L2), more than four of the five teams to have attempted at least twice as many shots as them.

It’s perhaps therefore more a curious stat than a concerning one, especially as one obvious factor is that Arsenal played more than half the time at both Man City and Bournemouth with fewer players after having a man sent off.

They will, of course, want to avoid dropped points in their upcoming away games. It may help them that Arsenal won’t have to leave London for any of their next five away matches, facing Chelsea, West Ham, Fulham, Crystal Palace and Brentford.

A win at Stamford Bridge next weekend would certainly ease a lot of pressure heading into the international break, anyway.

VIZ – Salah’s Latest Landmark

In late March, Brighton played Liverpool at Anfield. The Seagulls took an early lead, but Liverpool fought back, with Mohamed Salah cutting inside and curling the winner in at the Kop end to complete a 2-1 turnaround.

On Saturday, Brighton played Liverpool at Anfield. The Seagulls took an early lead, but Liverpool fought back, with Salah cutting inside and curling the winner in at the Kop end to complete a 2-1 turnaround.

Then Bill Murray turned over and smashed up his alarm clock.

No, it wasn’t quite Groundhog Day at Anfield, but it was a familiar feeling. Salah has 10 goals and six assists in the Premier League against Brighton, the most any player has against them in the division. Since the Seagulls joined the competition in 2017, only Salah himself versus Man Utd (18) has more goal involvements against a single opponent in the competition.

It wasn’t just a familiar feeling because Liverpool beat Brighton in the manner they did, but because Salah scored the winning goal and was at the centre of a Liverpool win.

His winning goal in the 71st minute was Salah’s 48th match-winning goal in the Premier League, with only five players scoring more in the competition’s history. A winning goal is defined as a goal that ultimately decides the game, so for example, the second goal in a 2-1 win, the third in a 4-2 win, or the first in a 5-0 win.

The Egyptian moved level with Sergio Agüero for winning goals in the Premier League and doing so in two fewer games (273 to 275). Salah needs 11 more winners to catch Thierry Henry, who scored an amazing 59 in just 258 games.

And just to add further to his accomplishments, Salah overtook Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler in the Premier League’s all-time goalscoring charts, moving on to 164 and into eighth place.

As you can see from this week’s viz at the top, 132 of Salah’s strikes in England’s top flight have been with his trusty left foot, including Saturday’s, while nine have come from his head and the remaining 23 from his right foot.

He remains 96 behind Alan Shearer, which may be a big ask for him to reach, particularly if this ends up being Salah’s final season in the Premier League with his contract at Liverpool expiring next summer, but he could certainly catch Henry (175) and Frank Lampard (177).

Brighton would certainly welcome seeing the back of him, anyway.

QUIZ – Forest’s Shooting, Man City’s Run Ends, and Son’s Help

Here’s five questions from the weekend to test your trivia muscles, including one from the first round of this season’s FA Cup. Answers at the bottom of the page.

1. Since the start of last season, Nottingham Forest have scored 14 Premier League goals from outside the box. Who are the only team in England’s top flight to net more goals from distance during this period?

2. Manchester City’s 32-game Premier League unbeaten run came to an end at Bournemouth. Who was the last team to beat them in the league prior to Saturday?

3. Northern Ireland international Josh Magennis has scored seven goals in his last five starts in the FA Cup proper. He’s hit two hat-tricks in this run, including one against Barnet on Saturday, but which League One side does Magennis play for?

4. Son Heung-min’s assist for Tottenham teammate Brennan Johnson against Aston Villa was the fourth time he has set up the Welshman to score in the Premier League, only providing more assists in the competition for Harry Kane (23) and who else?

5. None of the last five managers taking charge of their first Premier League away game against Manchester United at Old Trafford have lost (W2 D3); the longest such run in the competition’s history. Aside from Enzo Maresca, who joined the list on Sunday, name two of the other four.

Ask Opta

This week’s question comes from James Moore, who asks: “With Man Utd struggling for goals, can you assure me that Rúben Amorim’s teams score loads?”

Do you have a stats-based football question you want to Ask Opta? If so, send it to editors@theanalyst.com and we’ll do our best to provide you with the answer in a future edition of SVQ.

Answer:

Never fear, James; yes, Amorim’s Sporting CP side score loads.

The defending champions are top of the Portuguese Primeira Liga this season with 10 wins from 10 games. They have scored at least eight more goals than any other team (35), while they also have the highest expected goals total (29.5) and have attempted an incredible 79 more shots than any other team (244).

Since Amorim was appointed in March 2020, Sporting have scored more Primeira Liga goals than anyone else (354), ahead of rivals Benfica (350) and Porto (348), having attempted more shots than both in that time (2,514 to Benfica’s 2,512 and Porto’s 2,492).

We have plenty of Amorim content on the Opta Analyst website, including one on why United wanted him in the first place.

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Quiz Answers

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4. Dele Alli (7)

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